A private number plate is a popular way to add some personality to a car, and for some savvy buyers, they have become an investment piece, thanks to their often high value. If you’re considering buying a private number plate to put on your car, make sure you take the time to weigh up all the pros and cons first before deciding to make the purchase.
Pro – It Can Be Great For Your Personal Branding
If you have a big personality that you like to show off, show it off with your car’s number plates to shout about the kind of person that you are. If you’re a business owner, for example, or offer specific services, it can be a good way to advertise your company and what you do if you buy a plate in your business name. The right kind of personalized number plates on an already smart-looking car can look pretty impressive and often sophisticated.
Con – It Can Attract The Wrong Kind Of Attention
Not everybody can get away with clever personal number plates. Show your friends or family the number plate you’re thinking about buying and see what they think about it. If they seem confused by it or laugh at you, don’t buy it. Make sure you run a search on any number plates for sale that you’re considering to make sure that there is no second meaning that you’re not aware of that could attract negative attention. Check slang terms or the names of other businesses to avoid inappropriate associations, which could make your number plate draw attention that you would rather not have.
Try to avoid choosing a number plate that you intended to be funny, as the joke will quickly wear thin after you’ve looked at it a few times. When the joke stops being funny, your plates will start to just look a bit cheesy and in poor taste. Fit the wrong plates on a shabby-looking car, and instead of seeming smart, you’ll look like you’re trying too hard to be quirky and clever. Avoid looking silly by choosing very carefully what you put on your personalized number plates, and think hard about how they will look on your car.
Pro – The Value Can Go Up
The unique nature of a personal number plate can mean that it will hold onto its value or it could even increase in value if you’re very lucky. Some collectors will buy private number plates instead of other sorts of stock options, in the hopes that the value will increase and they will be able to sell the number plate on for a profit.
This does mean that if you want to buy a private plate for yourself to use, they are usually quite expensive to buy. However, if you want to get a plate with something more unusual on it, you should pay close attention to the sites that sell cheaper private number plates, and you might just get lucky with a good deal, and save yourself quite a lot of cash.
Con – They Are Usually Not Cheap
If you want something more common for your plates, for example, if you want your name and have a fairly common one, buying a private plate isn’t going to be cheap. If you do have to pay out a lot of money for your new personalized number plate, you can hope that your number plate will keep its value for a long time on so you have the option of deciding to resell it and earn back some of the money that you had to spend on it in the first place.
Pro – It Can Hide The Age Of Your Car If You’re Selling It
It’s important to remember that it is illegal to deliberately make your car appear to be newer than it is with a new number plate. However, you can legally make the age harder to immediately tell by using a private number plate. Standard number plates will immediately give away the exact year the car was made, but personal number plates don’t have anything that tells the age. If you’re selling the car, this could work in your favor if the car is in good condition for its age. Of course, if the buyer asks then you will have to tell them the car’s actual age, but if they’re already interested in the car after seeing it, the age might put them off less and help them decide to buy it.